UAB Synopsis, Vol. 25, No. 8, April 10, 2006
Douglas C. Wallace, PhD, a renowned expert on human mitochondrial genetics, is the 15th annual Paulette Shirey Pritchett Endowed Lecturer in Pathology. His lecture, “A Mitochondrial Paradigm of Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases, Aging and Cancer:A Dawn for Evolutionary Medicine,” will be presented at 4 pm on April 19 in Spain Auditorium.
Dr. Wallace, director of the Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics at the University of California, Irvine, is the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine with the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biological Chemistry in the College of Medicine. He completed his BS at Cornell University (1968), received his MS and PhD from Yale University (1975), and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy for Microbiology.
In the early 1970s, Dr. Wallace and his colleagues founded the field of human mitochondrial genetics. Dr. Wallace has shown that defects in mitochondrial genes are major contributors to many degenerative diseases, different types of cancer, and aging.
Because mitochondrial DNA is only inherited maternally, Dr. Wallace and his collaborators were able to use variations in mtDNA to reconstruct the origins and ancient migrations of women, tracing mtDNA lineages back to a single African origin, in what has been popularly called the “mitochondrial Eve” theory. These studies formed one of the cornerstones for the new field of molecular anthropology.
Dr. Wallace is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine’s Excellence in Teaching Award; co-winner of the Passano Award 2000 for Mitochondrial Genetics; and the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics.
Paulette Shirey Pritchett, MD, for whom the lectureship is named, was a valued faculty member of UAB’s Department of Pathology from 1975 to 1984.